Magicians were divided into twelve ranks.

Grand King Magister

King Magister

Magister

9th Order Magician

8th Order Magician

7th Order Magician

6th Order Magician

5th Order Magician

4th Order Magician

3rd Order Magician

2nd Order Magician

1st Order Magician

Bradford Empire only had two Magisters while the Beel Group is rumoured to have a King Magister in their organization. This meant that the Beel Group had the military potential to invade Bradford Empire. It was only a matter of time when the Beel Group’s goals reach a certain height.

Brogart was capable of becoming the fifth Grand King Magister. This task was only made possible due to the life experiences of Brogart. Luck also played a vital role. Azzard held no confidence in himself. He thought that it was impossible for him to become a Grand King Magister since he was utterly clueless about magic. Even though Brogart had imparted him with the skills, he could not use them.

Brogart trained in the Lightning type of Magic. His spells were based from the destructive power of lightning and thunder. Gerard also explained to Azzard that his previous master was quite adept in stealth and speed. This was due to the special properties of Lightning magic.

Azzard knew he was unable to use Lightning magic ever since he started to practice in it. He could not get a reaction even after casting a simple Lightning Bolt Spell which even those who weren’t 1st Order Magicians were capable of doing. The spell entirely depended on the base mana pool of a person; the more mana he had, the more successful he is in casting spells. But Azzard had large mana pool, Gerard had informed him. He also said that Azzard’s mana had similar characteristics with Brogart’s. That’s the reason why Azzard thought that he was incapable of studying Lightning magic. As to how he had summoned the lightning bolt to heal himself was a mystery.

It was not the end for Azzard. Brogart did not merely practiced in Lightning type magic. Brogart also practiced in Darkness type magic. Darkness type magic was a hard type of magic to train in. Only a few would be suitable for practicing this magic since Darkness type magicians were inflicted with some repercussion for training in Darkness type magic. They suffered from illusions and the inability to fall asleep. So most people opted to other types of magic since it was possible that they would become delirious and crazy over time.

After his fruitless efforts in Lightning type of magic, Azzard tested his own suitability to Darkness type magic.

“If Brogart was capable of using Darkness type magic, it may be possible for me as well.”, Azzard encouraged himself.

And so Azzard started to chant the only Darkness type magic spell that Brogart knew.

“Mysterious Elements of Darkness, enshroud me with your veil.”

Mana was being pulled out from Azzard’s body. From his surroundings, a dark type of veil slowly formed. Later on, it enveloped Azzard until he vanished, completely merging with darkness of the cave.

“The spell worked!”

Azzard was ecstatic to find out that he succeeded in casting the Conceal Spell during his first time. Gerard, who was watching the whole thing in his necklace form, was flabbergasted. He understood how difficult it was for one to train in Darkness type magic. Aside from its setbacks, Darkness type magic was already considered to be a long forgotten magic. No one could comprehend its properties and train themselves in it. Also it was common knowledge that every single person. Seeing Azzard being proficient in Darkness type magic made Gerard think that Azzard was quite talented.

Azzard wanted to practice the next spell but unfortunately there was none that he could practice with. Brogart had only left him with Darkness type spell. He was downtrodden and disappointed but he could not do anything about it.

After his fruitful efforts in Darkness type magic, Azzard decided to take a break. He needed to think things through. He was useless in most type of magic while he was also quite talented in the only type of magic that was not studied by the people of this world. Anyone would be quite troubled if they were to experience the same thing. He was lost. Azzard did not know how to proceed with his mission, of becoming a Grand King Magister. Deciding not to overflow his thoughts with negative ones, he relaxed his mind. It had been a long day, adding to that he practiced magic so naturally he fell asleep quite quickly.

The next day, Azzard went to do something else. Not only did Brogart leave him with magic skills and spells, he also left behind his fighting techniques. Although Brogart was more adept in magic, he was more than capable of defending himself from the physical attacks of enemies.

Azzard came out of the cave and begun his training. He performed the basic steps of blocking and parrying. All beginners were required to first remember defence. Only by completely mastering defensive techniques was one able to proceed to learn fighting techniques. Most disciples would feel that it was boring, All of them wanted to learn how to punch, kick and so on but not Azzard. He was diligent in his training. His focus and concentration would be considered to be top notch. So the day went on like that, Azzard practicing defensive techniques while only taking a couple breaks in between.

Three months have passed and Azzard went from a beginner in fighting to a master. To say that his speed was astounding would be an understatement. Even the geniuses among geniuses would have trouble matching up with Azzard’s pace. If Azzard was to compare himself with the elite knights of the Bradford Empire, he can just barely put up a 10 second fight until he would be defeated. He was more confident before knowing that he had some power to protect himself but he knew it was useless. His original mission was to become a Grand King Magister but he strayed far from it. He became a fighter rather than a magician. He knew that magicians had more battle potential than fighters since they were limited to fighting with their body. Magicians were capable of destroying a small platoon with one spell while fighters would run out of energy fighting off a small platoon of knights. He knew that the strength would be looked down upon the hidden enemy that was still lurking in the world. It would be like how a person would look down at an ant. He also knew that he could do nothing about it.

During his days in the Mountains of Skotadi, he hunted for beasts and trained his body into a fighting machine. His days weren’t all that perfect, eventually he suffered some major setbacks.

After his training, he was completely exhausted and hungry. He had forgotten to hunt the day before therefore he had nothing eat. Maybe it was hunger or fatigue that made Azzard make one of his biggest mistakes. And that was to hunt at night. Gerard had warned him before that it was during the hours of darkness that the strongest and wildest beasts would roam about.

Azzard spotted a two-horned rabbit by the bush. Two-horned rabbits were popular among the villages since their meat had a good taste and that they were also easy to hunt. Grabbing his wooden spear that he made while passing his time, he threw it aiming for the body of the two-horned rabbit. A yelp could be heard and it was a success. Azzard came closer to pick up his newly acquired meal when a loud roar could be heard. The roar came from behind Azzard which alerted him of danger.

He knew it was no normal beast judging by how the ground would shake as the beast came nearer to his position. Moments later, before he was able to hide, the beast arrived at his location. Towering over him at five meters, it was a Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent with the rest of its body extending into the forest. Just as the name entails it was a Darkness type Magical Beast. Darkness Magical Beasts were quite difficult to deal with at night since all of them were capable of being invisible at night. It was like Azzard activating the Conceal Spell.

Their battle began. Azzard picked up his wooden spear and defensively made his stance. Immediately, the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent, slashed at Azzard. Using his spear, Azzard was able to propel himself and dodge the attack. Gerard had already woken from the loud roar and was guiding Azzard in his first major fight. Both of them knew that he did not have the strength to defeat the beast in front of him. Gerard could no longer assist Azzard in this fight since for some unknown reason, he was slowly losing his powers. So Azzard had to fend for himself. Death was not an option for he knew he had a mission to complete.

The battle continued on with Azzard mostly dodging the attacks of the beast. Slowly, the beast was getting annoyed. Enraged, the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent, once again let out a loud roar. Then it disappeared. The beast had merged with the darkness of the night to cause alarm in Azzard’s mind. He was doing so well at dodging the attacks but now that he was unable to see the beast, how could he continue to dodge? The situation had reached its peak. From his left side a whoosh was heard and Azzard was barely able to dodge it. He dodged the consequent attacks but it was obvious that fatigue was already slowing him down. And he was struck.

Blood spilled everywhere. Gerard was afraid for Azzard’s life. When the claws of the beast hit his opponent, it revealed itself. Azzard knew it was his chance so with the little energy he could muster, he grabbed hold of his spear and threw it towards the beast’s heart. Miraculously, it hit the beast. The Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent became wild. It thrashed its surrounding and luckily Azzard wasn’t thrown around as well. A few minutes later silence was heard and the beast lay dead on the ground, blood coming out from its chest.

It was the adrenaline that kept Azzard going and the reason why he felt no pain but now that battle was over, his sense of pain came back to him. Azzard was really weak at that moment, and he lost a lot of blood that he looked as pale as the clouds.

“Am I going to die today?”, Azzard asked himself to which Gerard was able to hear.

“I can close up your wounds to stop the bleeding but I’m afraid that too much blood was lost and you will still die.”, Gerard answered him.

Azzard went silent. In his mind he was waiting for the lightning to struck him again but it seems as if it was only one time. The lightning was only able to heal him once.

“Heal me.”, Azzard commanded.

“Master, death is inevitable and the same thing for this world’s end. It was truly unfortunate to have met this beast.”

Azzard didn’t listen to Gerard’s words and commanded once again.

“Heal me. That is an order from your master.”

His command was stronger this time that Gerard was unable to refuse.

“O Great One of the Fire, burn away disease and spark life into the injured.”

A scarlet light appeared on Azzard’s wounds and eventually the wounds stop bleeding. Azzard touched his wounds and was glad that they had stopped bleeding. He refused to die in a pool of his blood so he commanded Gerard to close his wounds even though he knew it was futile. It was regretful that the world will perish in 10 years but nothing could be done about it now. Azzard was already welcoming death when an idea lit up in his mind. He saw the blood gushing out from the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent. Since the beast had a huge body, there would still be quite the amount of blood that remained in its body.

Azzard was now near the beast and he invoked a spell.

‘Mysterious Elements of Darkness, take what does not belong to bring forth to me.”

The blood of the beast came from its body and was flowing through the air towards Azzard. It entered through a slit on his wrist that he made just before the spell. His body was continuously being supplied with new volumes of blood.

As to how Azzard knew this spell, Brogart taught it to him. Brogart didn’t leave him with one Darkness type magic spell but two. The reason why he couldn’t practice the second spell was that it was a spell that was only used when one’s life was bordering death. It allowed the spell user to take the strength of one person to make it his own. For example, if a Darkness type magician was dying due to old age, he can use the spell to replace his old body with the body of a young man. The life force of the young man will be transferred to the old magician and that young man will die to let the old magician live.

It was the same thing for Azzard. He was dying of blood loss and was in dire need of blood. He activated the spell so that the blood of the Four-Armed Dream Eater Serpent would replace the blood that he had lost.

Just before his heart stopped beating due to lacking blood, a new vigor arose from his heart when it came into contact with the beast’s blood. It pumped faster than it normally should and Azzard’s life was saved from Death’s hands.

Extreme relief came over Azzard to know that he was still alive because he knew the complications of the spell he had just used, New Life Spell. It had less than 5% percent of being successful since compatibility was required. He was afraid that the spell wouldn’t wprk since it was beast’s blood and not human but luckily the spell did work or so Azzard thought.

An extreme pain came from his chest. It was his heart, the rapid beating it was performing did not stop. Afterwards, Azzard felt a burning pain throughout his body. It was too much pain for a human to endure. His brain’s defensive action towards it was to shut down. Azzard fainted.